david_steward
New member
From a superb weekend at the inaugural MBM Seamanship Seminar.
We arrived at the Careys Manor Hotel in the New Forest Friday lunchtime and went straight out on an essential tour of the local hostelries.
Later we had a great swim/sauna in the hotel health suite. Friday evening we met up with some old friends and had a very average meal in the hotel's bistro. Lots of late night drinking was had by all.
Saturday morning dawned with another wake up swim/sauna, then realised that I was indeed still alive.
The seminars were generally first class. Learned all about Radar,Gmdss etc from Raymarine. Sadly their live auto distress demo failed which just goes to prove that you should never work with children, animals, or DSC controllers.
Peter Furby from 3M told us all how to clean our boats. Which was a bit of a shock for some who just assumed that it happened all by itself upon signing a cheque to the marina. Peter is a very funny man indeed, only outdone by his even funnier wife who makes me laugh out load.
I also managed to pass my cevni exam. Many seemed surprised that I hadn't taken it already as I have been spotted in Zeeland and Paris in recent years. Er no.
Some chap from the Coastguard turned up to tell us all about how Gmdss wil affect us. Basically we are taking our headphones off in 2005 he said. But we will still be listening on a loud speaker. 'Thats it then is it?' We chorused. Er yes.
There was a bloke from International who offered a 50% discount on any paint ordered. A queue of eager purchasers were then disappointed to find out that he had said 15%. Bugger.
Sadly the lecture on anodes left most of us losing the will to live. It wasn't his fault really, its not exactly a fascinating topic and we had all had a big lunch.
Without doubt the highlight of the weekend was messing about with lifejackets and liferafts in the pool.
Two things came out of this which I cannot stress enough.
GET CROTCH/THIGH STRAPS ON YOUR JACKETS NOW!
It is BLOODY HARD to get into a liferaft from the water, step into it and keep dry if you possibly can.
But it was not all a bed of roses. The Careys Manor Hotel is a bit crap. They were very short staffed, kept us waiting around ages queing up for food etc. Very poor planning over simple things like bar staffing and serving coffee. And they head waiter gave me some attitude when I complained about the meal given to my wife who is a veggie.
It was totally inedible and unidentifiable stodge. He said he would look into it. After further prompting he replied that he had eaten it and it was as it should be. "so it was meant to taste like shite was it?" I politely enquired. Grrr grrr.
The food was a bit average in general.
And finally, that git called Jake Kavanagh handed out a few awards. Including a nice framed certificate for yours truly. This was for bringing colour to boating by virtue of a variety of loud shirts and a limitless supply of bad jokes. I cannot understand this at all. What is he going on about?
All in all it was a great weekend. Well done MBM.
Dave S
We arrived at the Careys Manor Hotel in the New Forest Friday lunchtime and went straight out on an essential tour of the local hostelries.
Later we had a great swim/sauna in the hotel health suite. Friday evening we met up with some old friends and had a very average meal in the hotel's bistro. Lots of late night drinking was had by all.
Saturday morning dawned with another wake up swim/sauna, then realised that I was indeed still alive.
The seminars were generally first class. Learned all about Radar,Gmdss etc from Raymarine. Sadly their live auto distress demo failed which just goes to prove that you should never work with children, animals, or DSC controllers.
Peter Furby from 3M told us all how to clean our boats. Which was a bit of a shock for some who just assumed that it happened all by itself upon signing a cheque to the marina. Peter is a very funny man indeed, only outdone by his even funnier wife who makes me laugh out load.
I also managed to pass my cevni exam. Many seemed surprised that I hadn't taken it already as I have been spotted in Zeeland and Paris in recent years. Er no.
Some chap from the Coastguard turned up to tell us all about how Gmdss wil affect us. Basically we are taking our headphones off in 2005 he said. But we will still be listening on a loud speaker. 'Thats it then is it?' We chorused. Er yes.
There was a bloke from International who offered a 50% discount on any paint ordered. A queue of eager purchasers were then disappointed to find out that he had said 15%. Bugger.
Sadly the lecture on anodes left most of us losing the will to live. It wasn't his fault really, its not exactly a fascinating topic and we had all had a big lunch.
Without doubt the highlight of the weekend was messing about with lifejackets and liferafts in the pool.
Two things came out of this which I cannot stress enough.
GET CROTCH/THIGH STRAPS ON YOUR JACKETS NOW!
It is BLOODY HARD to get into a liferaft from the water, step into it and keep dry if you possibly can.
But it was not all a bed of roses. The Careys Manor Hotel is a bit crap. They were very short staffed, kept us waiting around ages queing up for food etc. Very poor planning over simple things like bar staffing and serving coffee. And they head waiter gave me some attitude when I complained about the meal given to my wife who is a veggie.
It was totally inedible and unidentifiable stodge. He said he would look into it. After further prompting he replied that he had eaten it and it was as it should be. "so it was meant to taste like shite was it?" I politely enquired. Grrr grrr.
The food was a bit average in general.
And finally, that git called Jake Kavanagh handed out a few awards. Including a nice framed certificate for yours truly. This was for bringing colour to boating by virtue of a variety of loud shirts and a limitless supply of bad jokes. I cannot understand this at all. What is he going on about?
All in all it was a great weekend. Well done MBM.
Dave S
